Striping needle dividing mechanism for circular knitting machines



Oct. 31, 1933.

w. ROBINSON STRIPING NEEDLE DIVIDING MECHANISM FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Original Filed April 16, 1929 snpentor Gttorncus Patented Oct. 31, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Frank W. Robinson, Reading, Pa., assignor to Schuylkill Hosiery Mills, Reading, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Original application April 16, 1929, Serial No. 355,605. Divided and this application June 1, 1932. Serial No. 614,704

4 Claims.

My invention relates to circular knitting machines having a striping thread attachment of the nature described in my prior Patent No. 1,428,398 of September 5, 1922, and to certain improvements thereof set forth in my copending application Serial No. 355,605, filed April 16, 1929, (later Patent No. 1,864,321, issued June 21, 1932) in both of which depending guide fingers are swung radially above the circle of needles and therealong m for limited distances to feed their embroidery threads to determined needles selectively raised temporarily above the remaining needles for a portion of certain complete rotations of the needle cylinders.

My present improvements form a division of my aforesaid application Serial No. 355,605 (Patent No. 1,864,321, issued June 21, 1932) and relate particularly to the improved mechanism therein disclosed for selectively raising determined 29 needles into feeding position to receive the striping threads; the nature of such improvements and the advantages thereof being more fully described in connection with the accompanying drawing, and the novel features pointed out in the appended claims.

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic sectional elevation indicating certain well known portions of a circular knitting machine and embodying the present improved mechanism for selectively raising temporarily, determined needles into feeding position to receive the embroidery threads fed thereto by the striping thread guides.

Fig. 2 is a corresponding part sectional elevation taken at right angles to that of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a developed diagrammatic elevation of the cam ring, showing the needle lowering mechanism for certain of the raised striping thread needles.

The knitting machine, and the striping attachment indicated in the present drawings merely by a showing of two thread guide fingers 6, 6, are similar in their main features and operation to those more fully shown and described in my prior constructions previously referred to, and comprise a usual rotary needle cylinder 2, certain of the circular series of needles 3 carried thereby having operative varyingly-butted jacks 4 acted upon by a series of jack cams 5, the different movements of the latter being controlled as heretofore by pattern mechanism to selectively raise determined needles into feeding position to receive threads from the several guide fingers 6, 6, of the striping attachment, which fingers 6, 6, have imparted to them needle-engaging swinging movements controlled by pattern mechanism, all as more fully described in my aforesaid patents.

The needles 3 each have a butt 3a for action of the usual knitting cams shown in Fig. 3, and the jacks 4 for said needles have actuating butts which are divided into three series 4a, 4b, 40, by the projection of their respective butts at different levels, and each series may be further divided by variations in the length of projection of the several butts for determined action of their respective jack cams 5a, 5b, and 5c.

The jack cams 5 are slidably mounted, as shown in Fig. 1, in a bracket 90 carried on the cam ring '76 of the knitting machine, and are normally held out of action as by springs 91, and each is determinedly projected into the path of its respective series of butts by its corresponding lever 66, intermediately pivoted at 92, with their opposite ends riding in separate paths on a cam drum '70. By the proper location of cams 93 on said drum, varying in location and height in each lever path, selected cams may be projected, and the projection of each cam varied to act on more or less of the jack butts in such level according to the division in the lengths of such butts. v

Such controlled action of the jack cams will cause their jacks to raise their respective needles into position to receive the striping thread fed by the guides 6, 6, in accordance with the arrangement of the series of varied-butted jacks, whichwill be determined by the pattern desired.

The present improvements relate to means for relowering certain of said raised needles before they receive the striping thread fed by guides 6, 6, so as to provide for forming interrupted stripes, or where it is desirable to entirely omit certain stripes as in the foot portion of a stocking, and the means shown in the drawing for this purpose will now be described.

As shown in Fig. 1, a cam '75 is slidably mounted in an extension of bracket 90 carried by cam ring '76, and is shiftable bodily into the path of the needle butts 3a by a pattern controlled lever 77, intermediately pivoted at 94 and its opposite end riding in a separate path on cam drum 70 and acted upon by a suitable cam or cams 71. Cam 75 has a pivotal turning movement on its shiftable bearing axle, and is formed with an eccentric needle-butt engaging cam edge 80 normally held turned in idle raised position and retracted from ,the path of said needle butt by coil spring 81. Cam 75 is positioned at a height adapted to normally lie just above the path of travel of the needle butts raised by action of their jack cams, and when cam is turned on its axle, its cam edge is swung to engage said needle butts and lower them out of such raised path. When cam 75 is radially shifted toward cylinder 2 by lever '77, a projection 82 on said cam 75 is brought into the path of travel of a cam or cams 83 secured at proper position for movement with the needle cylinder, as by fixed mounting thereof on the underside of the sinker ring as shown or directly on the rotating needle cylinder 2. Cam 83 for a part of each rotation of needle cylinder 2 will then engage and depress projection 82 of cam 75 so as to axially turn the latter and swing its cam edge so across the feed level path of travel of the jack raised needles, such temporary position of said cam edge 80 relowering out of said feed level path any raised needles that engage it. The needles thus relowered will not receive a striping thread in that particular cylinder rotation, but may in a succeeding rotation, depending on the action of the jack cams to raise them and the action of lever 7'? to position cam 75 to lower them.

Diagrammatic Fig. 3 fully shows the action of the jaclr cams and of relowering cam 75, and in this showing it may be assumed that cam 75 has been radially shifted inward by action of lever '77 so that cam projection 82 will be depressed by needle cylinder carried cam 83.

In said Fig. 3, dotted line 3?) indicates the path of travel of the .needle butts in the regular imitting action and receiving the main thread upon rising on the stich earn as usual, dotted line 3m indicating the path of travel of the needle hooks in the regular knitting action. Dotted line lm indicates the path of travel of the needles raised by action of the several jack cams 5a, 5b and 50 to a level to receive thread from the guide 6. The dotted position of cam 75 shows its action, when depressed by cam 83, to relower any raised needles by engaging the butts of the latter and lowering them to an intermediate non-feeding level 3n. Five needles 3 are also indicated with their respective jacks: needle 3d having its butt in the knitting path, and its jack butt in the path of jack cam 50 out not actuated thereby; needle 3-c having its butt raised into striping-feed level 4m by action of jack cam Ed on its jack butt; needle 3-f similarly raised by action of jack cam 52; on its jack butt; needle 3g also similarly raised by action of jack cam 50 on its jack butt; and needle 3-h raised by action of jack cam 512 on its jack butt, but relowered to intermediate level 312 by cam 75, the edge 80 of the latter having engaged the needle butt.

The cam drum 70, with suitable cams properly located will determine the action of levers 66, d6, 66, and lever 7'7, which in turn control the action of jack cams 5a, 5b, and 5c, and relowering cam 75 respectively, and the action of these cams determines which needles will receive the striping thread to form the particular pattern determined upon.

The drawing is largely diagrammatic, and it is to be understood that the specific needle division effected by the eccentric cam may be'employed in connection with other requirements oi thread feed or needle manipulation.

meager What I claim is:

1. In combination with a circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles in said cylinder having operating butts, actuating jacks for said needles having operating butts, cams operative on selected jack butts to dividingly raise their respective needles, above the other needles, a cam selectively positionable for action on the butts of said raised needles, and a cam operative with the needle cylinder and actuating said positionable cam at each cylinder rotation when said positional cam is in acting position to relower selected ones or the raised needles to withdraw them from the division effected by the cams selectively active on the jack butts.

2. In combination with a circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder and operative cam mechanism, a guide member having needle feeding movements, needle jacks, cam selectively operative on said jacks in determined cylinder rotations to raise their respective needles for traverse during a part of said determined cylinder rotations at a guide-feed receiving level, and pattern controlled needle-engaging cam mechanism operative during certain of said part cylinder rotations'to relower out of said guide feed receiving level selected jack raised needles.

3. In combination with a circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder and operative cam mechanism, a guide member having needle feeding movements, needle jacks, cams selectively operative on said jacks in determined cylinder rotations to raise their respective needles for traverse during a part of said determined cylinder rotations at a guide-feed receiving level, an operative cam for said jack raised needles, pattern controlled mechanism for operatively positioning said cam in determined'cylinder rotations, and a cam operatively carried by said cylinder for actuating said positioned needle operative cam during a cylinder rotation to relower out of said guide feed receiving level selected jack raised needles.

l. In combination with a circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder and operative 12D cam mechanism, and a guide member having needle engaging movements, a circular series of needles having operating butts, a corresponding series of needle actuating jacks divided into predetermined groups by group butts of varying lengths and at varying levels, jack cams for each butt level and pattern controlled mechanism for selectively moving each cam for action on determined butt groups to raise their respective jack needles for traverse during a part of determined cylinder rotations at a guide-feed receiving level, an eccentric cam operative on the butts of said jack raised needles, a pattern controlled lever for operatively positioning said eccentric cam in determined cylinder rotations, and a cam operatively associated with said needle cylinder and acting during a part of each cylinder rotation to eccentrically position said needle butt operative cam when operatively positioned by said pattern controlled lever so as to relower out of said 14; guide feed receiving level selected ones of the jack raised needles.

FRAYK W. ROBINSON. 

